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Bengal governor's visit to violence-hit areas unconstitutional: TMC

BJP MP Nisith Pramanik accompanied Dhankhar during his visit

40-Jagdeep-Dhankhar Jagdeep Dhankhar | Salil Bera

West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress alleged that Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who visited post-poll violence affected areas of Cooch Behar district on Thursday ignoring the advice of the state government, violated constitutional provisions.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday wrote to Dhankhar claiming that his visit to Cooch Behar would be "violative of the long-standing norms as evolved over several decades" and urged him to desist from "abrupt decisions with regards to field visits".

The governor, in his reply, said he was discharging duties mandated by the Constitution and his visit to Cooch Behar was to share the pain and agony of the people suffering from post-poll violence.

"He (Dhankhar) did not listen to the state government and went to Cooch Behar. He went there in the company of a BJP leader. His conduct is unconstitutional," veteran TMC MP and party spokesperson Sougata Ray said.

BJP MP Nisith Pramanik accompanied Dhankhar during his visit to violence-hit areas of the district.

"Previously we had written a letter to the president against this governor. If the CM says, we will send another letter against him to the president," Ray told reporters.

The TMC in December last year had written to President Ram Nath Kovind to remove Jagdeep Dhankhar from the post of the West Bengal governor, accusing him of "transgressing constitutional limits" by regularly commenting against the state administration in public.

Senior party leader and minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay claimed that Dhankhar's conduct is unbecoming of a governor.

"The governor is doing politics over stray incidents after polls for which the state government has taken all necessary steps. He is doing politics when the state is busy fighting the pandemic. We wish that the governor and the state government work together to fight the COVID-19 situation," Chattopadhyay told reporters.

In a Twitter post, TMC Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar urged Dhankhar to "stop nasty divisive propaganda", saying it is not time for that.

However, she did not mention the governor's visit to Coochbehar.

"His Master's Voice @jdhankhar1 ji #GangaExposedModi No treatment No vaccine no #ventilators No cremation of dead Policy failure by @PMOIndia Stop nasty divisive propaganda It is not the time Save India from #CovidIndia," Ghosh Dastidar tweeted.

She tagged the post to the official Twitter handles of Mamata Banerjee and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien who is also the party's national spokesperson.

O'Brien retweeted Ghosh Dastidar's post.

On Friday, the governor is scheduled to visit camps in Assam where some people from West Bengal have reportedly taken refuge due to the skirmishes.

Post-poll violence has been reported from various places in the state, with both the opposition BJP and the ruling TMC accusing each other of indulging in attacks on their workers.

At least 16 people, mainly from the BJP and the TMC, have been killed in post-poll violence in West Bengal and most of the killings were reported till May 3 when the law and order was under the Election Commission, Banerjee had said on May 6.

Political clashes also left a number of people injured in the state since the results of the assembly elections were announced on May 2, when the TMC returned to power in a landslide victory. 

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